May 5, 2020 – Dawgonnit-Dawg's Blog

5-YEAR-OLD DRIVING IN UTAH

5-YEAR-OLD DRIVING IN UTAH

A 5-year-old boy from Utah wanted his mother to buy him a Lamborghini, and since she refused, he got in her car and attempted to drive to California himself to purchase one.

The child’s planned multistate journey, however, ended roughly five minutes after he took the car when a Utah Highway Patrol trooper pulled him over on the freeway Monday around noon.

In a dash-cam video released by the department, the SUV the boy is driving is seen weaving across the freeway as cars and semi-trucks whizz past.

The child pulls over to the shoulder of the road after the trooper activates his sirens.

“How old are you? You’re 5 years old?” the trooper is heard saying. “Wow … Where did you learn to drive a car?”

5-YEAR-OLD DRIVING IN UTAH

The boy said he had left his home in Ogden after he got into an argument with his mother because he wanted a Lamborghini and she told him no, according to a tweet by the highway patrol.

“He decided he’d take the car and go to California to buy one himself.

He might have been short on the purchase amount, as he only had $3 dollars in his wallet,” the tweet read.

The luxurious sports cars can start as low as $200,000, depending on the model.

Highway Patrol Lt. Nick Street told NBC affiliate KSL in Salt Lake City that when trooper Rick Morgan stopped the vehicle he thought it was going to be an impaired driver, not a child.

Morgan said when he approached the SUV, the little boy was sitting on the edge of the seat so he could reach the pedals. His head barely reached the headrest behind the steering wheel.

The child only drove for about five minutes from his home to the freeway when he was stopped, KSL reported.

“I helped him get the car into park, shut the vehicle down and then we started to look for means to contact his parents,” the trooper said.

The Highway Patrol was able to reach the boy’s family, who said his parents were at work and had left him in the care of a sibling.

Street said no one was hurt and it’s not believed that any property was damaged, but the boy’s parents could still face charges.

“We’re counting our blessings (nobody was hurt) but that doesn’t mean a high-risk situation that put a lot of people’s lives in jeopardy (didn’t occur),” he said.

“Based on that, we’ll talk with the county attorney and see what charges they would like filed or screened with them and we’ll do that.

DAWG SAYS: THE YOUNG MAN WAS MOTIVATED AND HAD A VISION

WEST VIRGINIA GOVERNOR CALLS IT

HE DENIES THE “F” BOMB HE DROPPED ON LIVE BROADCAST

WEST VIRGINIA GOVERNOR CALLS IT

Coronavirus updates from government officials tend to be dry in the extreme.

But West Virginia’s Gov. Jim Justice was being credited for spicing things up Monday when he supposedly dropped an F-bomb into the mix.

“I encourage all businesses that are allowed to open to do so only if they (expletive) follow the guidelines to keep West Virginians safe.”

Justice can be heard saying during a recorded press conference.

HERE IT IS DECIDE FOR YOURSELF

However, the Republican governor issued a statement late Monday, saying it was an audio glitch and not what he actually said.

His statement came shortly after the clip became a hit on social media, including a YouTube video viewed tens of thousands of times.
WEST VIRGINIA GOVERNOR CALLS IT

“Today at our news briefing there was an audio glitch,” Justice explained in a video posted on Twitter.

“And it sounded like that I had said a bad word. A word that I would never say nor have I ever said.

No possibility in any way, shape, form or fashion.”

Social media is torn on which is better: The “audio glitch” or the governor’s clarification video message, which had been viewed nearly 170,000 times in 10 hours.

Some people admitted loving his brutal honesty in using a curse word, while others thought they’d only imagined hearing it.

“Couldn’t you have waited till tomorrow or next year to say this (clarification).

Allow us to have a little bit of joy during this quarantine season,” Kevin Mace said on Twitter.

“I thought it was pretty awesome! That is transparency at its finest,” Christina Keller wrote.

“Politics rule No. 1,589: In the middle of a pandemic killing tens of thousands, it’s okay to drop an F-bomb,” Phil Kabler responded.

“Did the sign language interpreter sign the entire speech?” Joe Nunes wrote.

DAWG SAYS:

2 NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS ON NEWSOM

OPINION OF THE SACRAMENTO BEE AND THE LA TIMES

GAVIN NEWSOMS CONSTANT “WAFFLING”

2 NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS ON NEWSOM

When California legislators, decades ago, gave governors the power to declare emergencies and quickly deal with them, they probably had in mind sudden events such as earthquakes, wildfires or perhaps riots.

They probably didn’t envision a governor assuming almost dictatorial power over the social and economic lives of every Californian for the indefinite future.

As Gavin Newsom did when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the state. Newsom shut down much of the state’s economy and commanded Californians to shelter in place.

From an epidemiological standpoint it seems to be working. Infections, hospitalizations and deaths are running well below early predictions.

However, as the shutdown continues, as ordinary Californians grow

Legislators, even those of Newsom’s own party, are chafing that he makes major decisions with huge consequences without consulting them, such as a billion-dollar secret deal to acquire millions of much-needed face masks he first revealed on national television.

2 NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS ON NEWSOM

Last week, Newsom’s performance received very critical journalistic reviews in two hitherto friendly publications, the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee.

The Times published a very lengthy article, declaring that “Newsom’s recent waffling on the life-and-death decision and other actions have renewed critiques of the impatient, and at times chaotic, governing style that dogged Newsom in his first year in office.”

“Though state lawmakers and advocates for businesses, nonprofits, seniors, healthcare and other groups waited their turn for aid or hesitated to speak out during the first few weeks of the unprecedented crisis as the governor grappled with immediate needs to slow the spread of the virus, that patience is running out. Legislators and advocacy groups want more input.”

The Bee’s editorial focused on Newsom’s lack of candor.

When, the editorial noted, Newsom announced that a vacant basketball arena owned by the Sacramento Kings basketball team would be converted into a hospital, he called it “an example of philanthropy at scale and people extending their hand.”

Later, however, The Bee revealed that the state is paying the Kings $500,000 a month and the editorial asks, “why didn’t the governor make it clear that this was a business deal rather than a donation?”

“Unfortunately, the governor has a long track record of making announcements that turn out to be half-baked,” The Bee editorial continued.

“In March, Newsom announced that Tesla CEO Elon Musk had delivered over 1,000 ventilators to California. Weeks later, it turned out that no California hospitals had received any actual ventilators.”

2 NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS ON NEWSOM

In early 2019, Newsom’s office confirmed that he and his family were moving into the historic governor’s mansion near downtown Sacramento. Weeks later, it turned out they were actually moving to a mansion in Fair Oaks.

“A month later,” the editorial continues, “Newsom announced … that he was essentially scrapping his predecessors’ plans for a statewide California High-Speed Rail project,” but “Afterward, he backtracked, denied what he’d said and blamed the press for reporting his words.”

One could add that while running for governor, he flatly declared that he would solve California’s housing crisis by building 3.5 million homes, only to dismiss it later as “an aspirational goal.”

Newsom is essentially promising Californians that if they obey his dicta everything will turn out all right, but to succeed he must maintain credibility, and at times he’s his own worst enemy.

DAWG SAYS: NEWSOME HAS BEEN TERRIBLY ERRATIC IN HIS COMMENTING AND PRESS RELEASES.

HOW MUCH MORE YOU GOING TO TAKE CALIFORNIA?

AND WHERE IS THAT MONEY HE HAS SUPPOSEDLY USED?

CNN SENDS TRUMP CEASE AND DESIST

CNN SENDS TRUMP CEASE AND DESIST ORDER OVER AD

A lawyer for CNN’s parent company WarnerMedia has written a cease-and-desist letter to President Trump’s re-election campaign.

WarnerMedia says the Trump ad is misusing CNN news coverage in a way that’s “false, misleading and deceptive.”

The Trump campaign had no immediate response to a request for comment from CNN Business.

The ad, titled “American Comeback,” was introduced on Sunday night.

The campaign says it is spending “mid-seven figures,” at least several million dollars, to run the ad on cable and broadcast channels.

SEE AD HERE:

The ad takes a segment from CNN’s “The Situation Room” out of context. On March 30, anchor Wolf Blitzer asked Dr. Sanjay Gupta, “Well, is it accurate that if these steps had not been put in place, the stay at home orders, the social distancing orders, as the President said yesterday, it could have been 2 million people down here in the United States?”

Gupta responded, “I mean, you know, these are all models, Wolf. It’s a little tough to say, but, you know, if you talk about something that is spreading, you know, very robustly throughout a community.

You know, two to three times more contagious than flu, and up to 10 times, perhaps even more than that, more deadly than flu, then yes.”

Blitzer’s question was about “stay at home orders” and social distancing, but in the campaign ad, that portion of his question was omitted.

After Blitzer and Gupta are shown on screen, the ad cuts to taped video that invokes Trump’s restrictions on travel from China, like an airport screen showing cancelled flights.

Blitzer is heard asking, “Is it accurate that if these steps had not been put in place … it could’ve been 2 million people dead here in the United States?” And Gupta is heard saying, “yes.”

CNN SENDS TRUMP CEASE AND DESIST ORDER OVER AD

Rick D. McMurtry, associate general counsel for WarnerMedia, wrote in a letter to Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communications director.

That “the advertisement purposely and deceptively edits the clip to imply that Mr. Blitzer and Dr. Gupta were crediting the President’s travel ban policy issued in January for saving millions of American lives.

When in fact Mr. Blitzer and Dr. Gupta were discussing recently implemented social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders issued by state and local governments.”

“CNN hereby demands that you discontinue airing the advertisement with the CNN clip that has been distorted in such a way as to mislead the public,” McMurtry wrote.

The news organization learned about the ad last Friday when it was submitted as part of a Trump campaign ad buy. Television networks routinely review ads ahead of time for objectionable content.

According to McMurtry’s letter, CNN contacted the Trump campaign’s ad agency, Harris Sikes Media, to demand the ad “be edited to remove or correct the misuse.”

“CNN was willing to accept the advertisement if the misuse had been corrected.

Despite this notice, you refused to correct the advertisement and knowingly proceeded with distributing the advertisement as is with the misleading claim,” McMurtry wrote.

Trump’s ad makers have repeatedly used CNN footage over the years, despite the President’s frequent broadsides against the network.

Separately, the Trump campaign is suing a TV station in Wisconsin for airing a commercial from Democratic super PAC Priorities USA that, it says, uses clips of President Trump speaking in a way that is misleading.

The station, WJFW, has not commented on the lawsuit, but the station’s owner has retained a high-profile law firm as representation.

Numerous other station owners and media advocacy groups have expressed support for the station.